Picade MAX

by Pimoroni

A deluxe one or two-player desktop/bartop arcade cabinet that you build yourself, sporting a gorgeous 19" IPS screen and loads of space for customisation.

We've had a lot of requests to make a bigger, more versatile, 2 player version of our Picade and after a lot of work (and plenty of helpful feedback from our beta testers) we're very excited to share its final form.

Here are some of our favourite features:

  • Glorious 19" Screen
    Selected for its 5:4 aspect ratio (1280x1024 pixels) which is perfect for retro gaming. This IPS panel has vibrant colours and remains clearly visible from any viewing angle.
  • Arcade Joysticks + Low-Profile Buttons
    Connected up via a new standalone RP2040 powered Picade Max USB Controller board. The dedicated microcontroller lets Picade read lots of inputs accurately with super low latency!
  • High Quality Stereo Audio with Volume Control
    Built-in speakers powered by a custom RP2040-based USB stereo 3W per channel sound card. A tactile rotary encoder allows you to adjust the volume at any time, no more fiddling with it in software!
  • 1 & 🔴 2 Player Control Surfaces
    For the first time on Picade you can deck out your unit with either a one or two player layout. Both are included!
  • Black Powder Coated Cabinet
    Sturdy 6mm MDF with a hardwearing powder-coated finish gives a premium feel, while retaining family-friendly proportions that don't take over the room. Stronk, not Chonk. 
  • Vibrant Artwork
    A galactic red vs blue theme is provided for the marquee and console panels. Alternatively, see below for details on how to design your own!

Made for Raspberry Pi 5 ❤️

Picade Max sports a trio of custom-designed, dedicated, boards that augment your Raspberry Pi 5 by providing the power, audio, and control handling features.

  • Picade MAX Power HAT - provides plenty of power to your Raspberry Pi 5 and the included display. Just plug in the 12V power supply and the electrons will start shifting. Also includes support for the illuminated soft power button which will gracefully shutdown your Raspberry Pi when turning off Picade.
    • Powers your Raspberry Pi 5 and the display
    • Input: 12V (PSU supplied)
  • Picade MAX USB Controller Board - handles all of the button and joystick inputs (up to 24 of them!) and reports them back to your Raspberry Pi as if they had come from a regular keyboard or gamepad. This should make it easy to configure with many popular emulators.
    • Push fit DuPont connectors for buttons and joysticks
    • 2x 4-way joystick inputs (including analog) + up to 30(!) arcade buttons
    • Connects via USB-C
    • Powered by RP2040 (firmware on GitHub)
  • Picade MAX USB Audio Board - dual-channel 3W amplification with an onboard RP2040 acting as a USB soundcard. The connected rotary encoder gives precise volume control.
    • 2 x screw terminals to attach speakers
    • I2S audio DAC with 3W amplifier (stereo)
    • Volume control via separate encoder board
    • Connects via USB-C
    • Powered by RP2040 (firmware on GitHub)

Picade MAX is so much more than just a snazzy looking cabinet and a screen!

PICO-8 Fantasy Console License Included!

PICO-8 is a fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs. It feels like a regular console, but runs on Windows / Mac / Linux. When you turn it on, the machine greets you with a command line, a suite of cartridge creation tools, and an online cartridge browser called SPLORE.

It's a whole lot of fun and there are thousands of games, demos, experiments, and creations already out there for you to try - it's the perfect gateway experience to start dabbling in game development!

Included with your Picade Max is a free license key for PICO-8 worth $14.99!

Choose Your Own Adventure Emulator

There are a wide range of emulators supported on Raspberry Pi. The Picade MAX electronics have been designed to behave like a standard game controller which means mapping controls should be straightforward no matter which emulator you prefer to use.

Here at Pimoroni we've been enjoying using Recalbox which provides comprehensive emulation of over 100 different consoles, handhelds, and computers - phew!

Picade MAX Kit Includes

Picade Max comes in kit form and you'll need to build it yourself when it arrives. The build process takes between 2 and 4 hours depending on how ready your caffeine supply and how deft your fingers are.

You need to supply a Raspberry Pi 5 and microSD card. The only tools necessary are a couple of basic screwdrivers.

Assembly instructions are available online.

Contents:

  • Black, powder-coated, pre-cut MDF panels
  • Two console options with artwork (one or two player layout)
  • 2 x joystick with black ball top and push-fit arcade buttons
  • 2 x 3" speaker (5W, 4Ω)
  • Volume control dial and illuminated power button
  • 19" 1280 x 1024 IPS panel with HDMI driver board
  • External screen controls keypad
  • Picade MAX Power HAT
  • Picade MAX USB Controller Board
  • Picade MAX USB Audio Board
  • 12V power supply
  • All necessary cables and adaptors
  • Grippy rubber feet + fixings

Assembled dimensions: 51cm x 44cm x 39cm - perfect for a counter top or desk!

Notes and Secret Features

We've done our best to make the Picade MAX cabinet as hackable / customisable as possible! Note that some of these serving suggestions are minimally documented and should be deemed 'experimental', 'YMMV' and 'here be dragons' - but we'd love to hear about it if you try them out.

  • An alternate diffuser piece with mounting holes and standoffs is included for if you want go totally extra and add a Galactic Unicorn LED matrix as your marquee 🦄 (Unicorn is not included)
  • There's a selection of extra mounting holes in the base, for if you want to install a mini PC/ITX (and power supply) instead of a Raspberry Pi.
  • We've added mounting holes in the back panel for adding a large (200mm) rear mounted fan.
  • Picade MAX Power HAT, USB Controller and USB Audio boards all have Qw/ST connectors for if you want to add sensors or other I2C... things.  There's also some spare ADC pins available on the USB Controller board.
  • Picade MAX USB Controller board also has a connector for if you want to be double extra and add Plasma illuminated buttons (Plasma buttons are not included)
  • Want to make your own custom artwork for your Picade Max? Click here to download a PDF template for the printed pieces.
  • Picade MAX is designed for use with Raspberry Pi 5, but it will work just fine with any version of Pi with a 40 pin header.
  • Picade MAX is compatible with our very popular NVMe Base for Raspberry Pi 5 meaning that you can even have an M.2 NVMe SSD powering your most epic arcade build - that's gonna be real fast! ⚡

8 customer reviews

18 days ago
It comes with components for both a single-player joystick layout and a two-player joystick layout, allowing you to choose your preferred setup during assembly. I opted for the two-player configuration. I used a Raspberry Pi 5 with an NVMe Base Duo, but the design also accommodates mini PCs. The bottom of the enclosure features multiple screw holes for secure mounting, and The bottom of the enclosure features multiple screw holes for secure mounting, and the rear panel has designated cutouts to accommodate external ports. To further support mini PCs, a specially designed panel is included for optimal port access. When playing retro games with a vertical screen layout via an emulator, the game screen is typically trimmed to fit within a widescreen display. However, the 19-inch display on the PICADE MAX is large enough that even in this trimmed state, the arcade gaming experience remains fully immersive. The two speakers, combined with the large enclosure, deliver excellent stereo audio with great sound quality. The tutorial is clear, detailed, and precise, ensuring a smooth assembly process. By following the instructions step by step, you can complete the build in about five hours, without any confusion or issues.
by Tadashi about Picade MAX via REVIEWS.io
a month ago
Let me count the ways I love this awesome kit: 1. No soldering required 2. Easy to follow online instructions 3. Solid and sturdy build all around 4. Beautiful screen 5. Literally oozes retrogaming nostalgia Like a good homecooked meal, it's really nothing short of a complete joy to make and then enjoy! Some suggestions to the folks at Pimoroni though: 1. Add a spinner and/or trackball control, even if only as an option pack. Some of the best golden age arcade games used those do-dads. 2. Have builders mount the RPi to a 'tray piece' which then attaches to the cabinet with a single screw, thus facilitating easy removal of without disassmbly of the RPI stack. As always, thanks Pimoroni for just being you! ;-)
by Marty about Picade MAX via REVIEWS.io
2 months ago
This was an absolute joy to make. The instructions on-line are easy to follow. The materials are top quality and the build feels really solid.
by Emlyn about Picade MAX via REVIEWS.io
4 months ago
It is a great kit and you see the strong dedication put into the build in so many useful details. For me there is nothing missing and I‘m super happy that I made the decision to import it. All the best to the team and I wish you great success going on with such great stuff.
by Philipp about Picade MAX via REVIEWS.io
7 months ago
I’ve just completed the assembly of my Picade Max and it’s a great piece of kit. I have an original Picade with the 10” screen and it was great too, but a larger 2 player bartop is a lovely upgrade. The build took me around 3.5 hours and it was pretty straight forward once I’d worked out which the 12mm and 18mm m3 screws were! The only tricky part was fitting the Perspex for the screen cover and the marquee. Fitting the first piece was OK, but adding the second made the first fall out then adding the first again made the second fall out! I found wrapping an electric band around the top part of the case between the screen and the marquee made things considerably easier. Once it was all complete, booting up to Batocera and mapping the controllers was simple as it could be and the volume control is a huge upgrade compared to my old Picade. I’ve transferred the plasma buttons from old Picade into this and I’ve got a Galactic Unicorn ready to go, but getting that to display the marquee graphics is currently above my ability. A future update project for me.
by Darren about Picade MAX via REVIEWS.io
7 months ago
The Picade Max Beta is an absolute must have for Raspberry Pi and Mini PC retro gamers. The build was really fun, with very few hiccups (due to it being a beta model), and genuinely well designed unit. Materials and build quality is great, the cabinet is very strong and sturdy. The proprietary Pimoroni Picade Max boards that drive all the functions and features are quality made pieces of hardware, and the brand new 5:4 ratio IPS display is just the cherry on top. Admittedly, the price may seem steep, but for the work that has gone into the design, the materials used, the finished quality and out of the box tailored experience with the Raspberry Pi5 is nowhere else to be seen on the market…So, the team at Pimoroni have really nailed this. We asked, they delivered.
by MR RI about Picade MAX via REVIEWS.io
7 months ago
Easy to assemble, very solid feeling without weighing a ton. The screen is *huge* and beautiful. It's not cheap, but it's worth every penny.
by Pete about Picade MAX via REVIEWS.io
7 months ago
It's been a while since I dabbled with any PI stuff or even a Picade. So, when I saw the max edition, I had high hopes that it was an improvement on the original variant from many years ago. I followed the setup guide verbatim (along with the build tips) and it took approximately 5hrs while sat watching TV. I sorted all of the screws and panels into piles to ensure nothing was missing before starting, which definitely helped with identifying some of the screws (which can look rather similar) and allowed for the correct panel selection during the build. The quality of the Max components is high and the mounting and wiring is really well thought out making the process really straight forward. It's surprisingly big once fully assembled, but it really does look and sound great. What surprised me the most, was the fact that I didn't need to flash any firmware, didn't need to run any code, didn't need to ask for help. I followed the guide, installed Batocera v39 on a 256gb Micro SD using Etcher, inserted it into the PI5, powered it on and waited for Batocera to complete its setup. Rebooted to make sure it wasn't a fluke and then I set about filling the SD card with Arcade, Amiga/CD32, Daphne and PSX content via Ethernet from my PC. Volume dial, mute, controls, screen... Everything worked 1st time. I was blown away and have been sat tinkering with Emulators and Games ever since. Note/ I've since replaced the suggested 4 x screws that hold the screen in place with ones a few mm shorter, as the provided caused screen bleed when screwed fully, I also had the Power Hat replaced via a support email, due to a fault on the power pass though which developed 24hrs after build completion.
by Mat about Picade MAX via REVIEWS.io

4 user photos